From Hell and Upward
by jimparsonsisgawd
Summary: 1980s Manhattan - an illness is spreading throughout the city. A virus, one that takes hold of those around them, stealing them away, and no one will help them. The government, the press, their own families turn away and all they have is each other. Arthur and Alfred, writer and a journalist, in love and trying to help those around them. Heavily based on Kramer's The Normal Heart.


Hello~ So, I recently read the play The Normal Heart by Larry Kramer, and it was a real tearjerker so if you don't feel prepared...awkward. It's about an important time in history, and I think that Hetalia can be used to represent that. I apologize ahead of time if a few characters get somewhat out of character, but this is heavily based on The Normal Heart. I would have put it as a crossover but then who would read it? Anyway, that all being said I don't own Hetalia, The Normal Heart or anything involved with either of them. So...please no one sue me. Also the characters are going to seem completely random and a bit out of character at first but it will fall in to place trust me. First chapter might read a bit rough but trust me...

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June 7th, 1981

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"Hmm..." The young man shrugged his shoulders and straightened his posture, grinning a false grin in an effort to not look nervous as he was, "I dunno, I just feel like maybe somthin's wrong..."

The dully-lit waiting room was quiet, just the three of them sitting there. One anxious, one annoyed, one apathetic, or at least pretending to be apathetic. Arthur sat quietly listening to the two of them. It was odd to see the two of them together since they weren't exactly friends. Lovino had only offered to go to the hospital with Mathias because Berwald had to work and no one else would.

Lovino didn't like Mathias, or even most of the people he surrounded himself by - but he _had_ to go with him. Soon enough he might have been going to the hospital to get checked, and he wouldn't want to go alone. Someone from _Club Culture - _the gay bar Arthur knew them from and the one that the men from all over Europe frequented to, might _need_ to go with Lovino at some point.

Arthur would have offered if he'd realized it, but at this point it wasn't as though he could tell Lovino to leave. He knew neither of them very well, anyway, having moved to Manhattan from London just four months before. He'd followed after his older brother Allistor, a lawyer who had made it big in Manhattan and who had helped Arthur get an apartment in a nice area for a good price. Arthur, a young writer, knew he wouldn't have been able to afford his new home without his older brother, but he almost found it difficult to be grateful seeing as it was the only kind thing Allistor had done in years...

The illness, though... The illness was spreading like wildfire, and most people didn't know why... There was nothing more scary than not knowing. Was it air-born? Blood-born? Random...? Why were so many people like Arthur getting it...?

The Italian man sighed heavily and looked at the Dane, "You don't have it, _bastardo_," He said. He huffed a bit and sighed softly, the little curl at the side of his head sticking out against the white paint behind his head. "Look, I know you and I aren't friends, but Berwald is supposed to meet us soon, why don't we buy you something nice? What do you want...?"

Mathias perked up a bit, grinning a bit more, "We'll go somewhere nice to eat, okay?" he asked, though a moment later the smile disappeared once more as the door opened and another young man came out. It was Ivan, another man from _Club Culture. _He had it. There was a small, purple spot on his right temple, one of the clear symptoms of being infected. Ivan looked at the three of them and smiled a bit, though behind the smile was some kind of misery, "Privyet. She said that whoever's next can go in..." At that he picked up his scarf from his seat and walked into the restroom.

Mathias turned and looked at Arthur and Lovino, "Did you see that spot?" He asked in a hush tone, still desperately trying to hide any worry. Arthur had never seen Mathias upset, so even this was unnerving. Mathias was so young too... All of them were, really, the oldest was Ivan and he was only twenty-eight...

Or was Sadik, that young man from Turkey the oldest...? Yes, he was almost thirty, wasn't he...?

"You don't have those, now do you?" Lovino answered after a moment, clearly getting annoyed.

"She said they can be inside of you."

"They aren't inside of you."

"They're inside me."

Arthur sighed softly as Lovino stood up, fuming with frustration, "Alright, _bastardo_, what makes you so damn sure that you're sick?! And if you're so sure why'd you make me come with you, what if you sneeze on me and make me sick too?! Then we're BOTH dead!"

Silence.

Arthur stood up, though he didn't really know why, and looked at Lovino in surprise. _Why? Why did you need to say that? _He thought, though he couldn't say it out loud. Lovino looked horrified.

After a few moments Ivan stepped out of the restroom, sitting down in one of the chairs. He looked at the group in confusion.

Mathias was quiet, and laughed softly. It was a nervous, unsettling, chilling kind of laugh - the kind that makes you want to cover your ears - worse than nails on a chalkboard or radio static. "W-where's Berwald?" He asked, forcing confidence out, "He was supposed to meet us soon. I love Berwald a lot, you know. I'm so lucky to have him, Lovino..." He fell silent and looked at his feet, "I know that something's wrong..."

"Mathias," Lovino said, trying desperately to cover up his accent, "You're only here for a test result. Please..."

After a moment a nurse stepped out from the next room, summoning Mathias. "Wish me luck," the Dane said, before he stood up, grinned his false grin and hugged Lovino, "Thank you for coming with me," he said earnestly. He surprised Arthur by turning and hugging him as well, before he walked in after the nurse.

Silence.

Ivan stood up, stepping a bit closer to him and shaking his head, "The symptoms get worse and worse and they won't go away," he then turned to Arthur, smiling a bit, "I complimented you on your tie a few weeks ago at _Club Culture. _My name is Ivan."

Arthur nodded, "Yes, I remember - everyone hated that tie but you..."

"I'm her twenty-eighth case. Sixteen are already dead." At that Ivan turned and walked out, and what horrified Arthur most of all was that he wasn't surprised by this. "What the hell is going on?" He asked, sitting back down.

"I don't know," Lovino said softly, still a bit shaken up by his own actions, "Are you going to write about it."

"I may, and what about you? You're the one with the health column in the paper."

Lovino blinked and looked at him, "Well... I'll certainly write something in _The Native," _He said, referencing the local newspaper that was popular in the Manhattan gay community, "but I'm afraid to put anything in at work. The city doesn't exactly show a burning interest in gay health..." It was true, even mentioning the illness would probably have him fired.

"Hmm..." Arthur just nodded a bit, "How's Francis?"

"Francis? Oh! No, he was a bastard. I'm with Antonio Carriedo now. He's a bastard too, but..."

"That's very nice, Lovino," Arthur said softly. He was quiet at that, looking around the waiting room a bit more - plastic chairs lining the walls, magazines covering what would have been a coffee table. On the mounted television the Mets vs. Astros game played live - "DAVE KINGMAN WITH A HOMERUN PUTTING THE METS UP AT A TWO TO ONE LEAD!" The announcer screamed, though Arthur could barely hear it over the sound of bustling Manhattan.

Arthur watched quietly as fans on the screen panicked and screamed - he was still getting used to the American sport, and had debated whether he should favor the Yankees or the Mets or to ignore them all together. He was cut off from his thoughts as the door flew open again, Mathias coming out.

"I'm going to die," Mathias said. The smile was gone and was replaced by panic and anxiety as he looking between the two of them frantically, "That's the bottom line of what she's telling me. I need to go and get my things and come right back. Oh God, where is Berwald? Lovino, please come with me, I hate hospitals. I'm going to die. Where's Berwald? I want Berwald!" The two of them disappeared, Mathias breaking off into a run.

Silence.

"Hello Arthur," At the words he nearly jumped out of his skin, turning to see her there, "Oh, hello Elizabeta." He said. The two were neighbors, and he had been friends with the young doctor and her husband Roderich since he'd moved to Manhattan. Roderich was the owner of the building _Club Culture_ rented,and though he hadn't exactly planned on owning a gay bar and had been hoping for someone to rent the building and open a café or bookstore, money was money and he didn't mind. Elizabeta was close friends with Lovino's brother Feliciano, and as a result they were very accepting.

"You don't have an appointment with me, do you?" She asked in concern.

Arthur smiled a bit and shook his head, "No. I was hoping that maybe you could give me some kind of information about the illness, so that I could write about it?" Maybe he could send an article to the paper, or at least send information...

"Ha!" She laughed sarcastically, "Please, apart from the symptoms I don't even have a clue what's happening, and none of my colleagues are interested enough to study it. I'll be frank, this is the most deadly killer I've ever seen, heard of or studied and it's on a rampage. This is the tip of the iceberg. And the fact is no one will do anything to help because only gay men are getting infected and dying, and who in the political world cares if _faggots _die? God, I hate that word..." she shook her head, "Roderich and I are worried for Feliciano and Lovino, worried for their boyfriends, worried for you..." She was quiet and looked at Arthur, smiling a bit at him, "There's something you can do."

"What? Me?" Arthur asked.

"Yes. Somebody's got to do something," she said, "Doctors don't like to get involved in anything that smells political and believe me this smells. You've got a big mouth Arthur and I know that you could spread the word about the virus. Get some kind of a committee together to help organize support for the sick and spread word of symptoms, and how it spreads..."

"How does it spread?" Arthur asked.

"Well..." Elizabeta sighed softly, and then smiled wryly at him, "You need to tell gay men to stop having sex. That's how it spreads, we think. It's the only way that makes sense."

"Me?!" Arthur asked in annoyance, "No! These are men we're talking about, Elizabeta. Men! Some of them would rather die before giving up sex, what on earth do you tell them?"

"You tell them they may die."

Silence.

Arthur sighed heavily, "You want me, all by myself-"

"You with a committee,"

"You want me... with a committee... to tell every gay man in New York to stop-"

"Who said anything about just New York?"

"Every gay man in the country-"

"Across the world, Arthur!" Elizabeta said, doing some kind of hand gesture to illustrate, "Don't you see? If you get people to know somewhere else - say Boston, they'll start spreading the word. Soon the nation and the whole world will now. All thanks to Arthur Kirkland and his committee."

"Elizabeta-"

"Arthur." She said earnestly, "Listen to me. Go to the _New York Times_ building and look for Alfred Jones. Talk to him. Convince him to write you an article." The _New York Times?! _She sighed and looked at Arthur, "If they know how to prevent it, they won't get sick. Anyone with a brain would follow good instruction, don't you agree? But perhaps you've never lost anything..."

Silence. Followed by a sudden burst of yelling from outside:

"Hurry up! Hurry, Berwald!"

A moment later the double doors of the entrance rapidly opened and a young man stood there - blond hair, blue eyes hidden behind a pair of smart glasses. Lovino stood with him. The blond man carried Mathias, who contorted painfully in the arms of his lover. Elizabeta disappeared and reappeared with a nurse and a hospital gurney, helping to get Mathias into the emergency ward.

"What happened?" She asked, turning to the spectacled man who had brought him in.

The young man, who Arthur vaguely recognized from the Club, looked at her nervously, "He was comin' out of the building an' started runnin' up t'me an' he collaps'd..." he trailed off.

"Who are you?"

"Berwald Oxenstierna, ma'am..."

"You're the boyfriend?"

He nodded.

"How's your health?"

"Fine - s'it contagious?"

"I think so. Oxenstierna? You were Lukas Bondevik's boyfriend?"

"How d'ya know that? He 'nd I havn't been t'gether for three years."

"He died two weeks ago."

Berwald's eyes widened a bit, and he shook his head, "We were only together a coupl' months..."

"It's like a plague." Arthur muttered.

"There's always plague, of one kind of another," Elizabeta said, "Arthur, I don't think your friend in there is going to be alive for long."

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End of chapter

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Wow, that feels like it was crap. It's heavily based on the first scene of the play, and I know the characters were all mixed up. Sorry...anyway, it's going to improve.


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